AHOPE

On Monday afternoon, another parent and I visited the AHOPE orphanage. We took a taxi to the site for the younger children, babies to 6 years old.  The site was very close and within walking distance, assuming you don't have 50 lbs of donations to drag along in a suitcase!

We arrived in the middle of nap time.  I guess we should've called ahead of time because we caused chaos and there was no way the kids were going to go to sleep after they saw us.  We tried to pretend they would actually sleep while their accountant/comptroller gave us a tour of the place.

The compound was secure and clean.  It seemed to be of good condition, but not nearly as nice as my son's orphanage.  It was broken up into several buildings.  There was a room for the boys, for the girls and for the babies to sleep.  There were also rooms for laundry, cooking, schooling and playing.

The nannies were very nice and enjoyed playing with the children.

The kids loved playing with us, but some tended to get aggressive about getting their fair share of attention.  Oh, it's so hard being wanted!!!  We played a lot of the same games as I played at the other orphanage.  Plus, since more of the kids were bigger, we added in

• Helicopter jumprope (I almost took out a couple 3-year olds who weren't expecting the hard end of the jumprope to come flying around).
• Pick 'em up and fake drop 'em.  They all perched on a wall and then flung themselves over my back like a sack of potatoes.  I then shook them until they almost touched the ground behind me or their pants came off (whichever came first).
• Velcro ball.  The tennis ball with the velcro mitts was a big hit.  Bad idea to only bring one set.
• Beauty salon.  My eyes were watering from having 4 beauticians put TIGHT braids in my hair…all at the same time.

Necessity is the mother of invention.  The kids had a bunch of broken tricycles.  None of them worked solo.  They hitched them together and fashioned a functional one.  They are like a bunch of little MacGyvers.  I swear, if they plopped an Engineering School down in the middle of this joint, some serious improvements for mankind would soon be developed! 

The other parent handed out Hershey Kisses.  I thought he was Willie Wonka handing out the golden ticket.  Some of the kids were very savvy and snuck out 2 different hands, ending up with 8 kisses a piece.  Of course, the nannies busted them and they had to redistribute.  All the wrappers ended up on the ground.  I would suggest anyone wanting to distribute candy take M&Ms or some other kind of candy WITHOUT individual wrappers.

Overall, the spirit of the kids was great.  They sported some decorative pins with phrases like, Excellent, Superstar and Princess that they wanted read to them so they could recite the words back.  They about killed me when they asked when I was coming back again, looked sad when they said I was going to America, and tried to use all of their big English words on me to get me to stay a little bit longer.  "Auntie, Auntie….telecommunication."  "Auntie, Auntie….Ex-cel-lent!"  Definitely worth it, but I wasn't prepared for the emotional aspect after I left.